Wine – Horses in the vineyard

New Zealanders are world leaders in efficiently and cost-effectively creating commodity products in the dairy, pastoral farming, horticulture and viticulture sectors. We have been driven by technological improvements in equipment and scientific improvements in measurement, analysis and treatment of issues that may have otherwise restricted production. In many ways, we have used our scientific knowledge to impose ourselves on the land and have largely been rewarded for doing so.

With specific reference to vineyards, and the modern reliance on mechanisation, it is easy to overlook the historical synergies that existed between the vines and the animals that traditionally lived among them. Prior to the 1940/50s, there were no tractors in vineyards. From Roman times, horses (and oxen) were used to cultivate soils and do the heavy work in the vines. Labour intensive to manage and limited in speed, these animals were replaced by the tractor, which allowed easier cultivation of larger areas, revolutionising grape and wine production in both traditional European regions and the “new world”. This increased production, reduced costs and brought wine to a much wider and diverse global audience.

However, for all their benefits, the use of tractors does have issues, and there is a gentle creep in some viticultural regions away from their use. Compared to horses, tractors are heavy and drive repeatedly over the same lines in a vineyard – causing soil compaction, which limits oxygen and water availability for the roots. They also negatively impact the activity of invertebrates in the soil so, essentially, the soil ecology is damaged.

Horses can work on land that is too steep, or narrowly terraced, to support large machinery, and a horse can work in a vineyard row less than a metre wide allowing much more intensive planting than even the narrowest vineyard tractors, which require at least two metres. Their manure is rich in nutrients and helps support an active micro-flora in the soil.

Now, some of the most revered vineyards in the world have returned to using horses to maintain the pinnacle of quality. Their empirical understanding of the greater wine quality achieved and an increasing scientific understanding of the vastly complex nature of soil ecology, is encouraging them to do so.

In New Zealand, only one vineyard – Churton in Marlborough – uses horses rather than tractors in their vineyards, but many are moving to smaller, lighter tractors to minimise compaction. The use of animals, such as sheep to graze vineyard grass in winter, reducing tractor use and providing manure as part of organic fertilisation within a property, is also increasing.

Technology and innovation will continue to be key contributors to New Zealand’s vineyard and wine successes. But in some cases, that may mean a return to horses tilling the soil or, in many other cases, it will involve taking a better look at what positives have been lost and rectifying those mistakes.